Physics / Spacetime

The Martial Art of Physics Tuesday 12/7/2010 5:18:44 PM (CST) - Michael Wells    People often talk about how to apply the basic laws of physics -- such as inertia, momentum, force, accelleration -- to martial arts technique to make them maximally effective. Yesterday I realised that some of the deeper principles of martial arts are clearly relatable to physics as well. The particular item that occurred to me is "use your opponent's force against them".   [ Comment on this Entry ] [ Email this Entry ]

Light's Most Exotic Trick Yet: So Fast it Goes ... Backwards? Sunday 5/14/2006 3:42:19 PM (CST) - Michael Wells    From the Article: In the past few years, scientists have found ways to make light go both faster and slower than its usual speed limit, but now researchers at the University of Rochester have published a paper today in Science on how they've gone one step further: pushing light into reverse. As if to defy common sense, the backward-moving pulse of light travels faster than light. Confused? You're not alone. [ Comment on this Entry ] [ Email this Entry ]

Time Travel Paradoxes Monday 7/4/2005 10:32:12 PM (CST) - Michael Wells    The Grandfather paradox is an often-invoked challenge to the concept of time travel.  It points out that if you travel back in time, and then kill your grandfather before your parents are born, then you have prevented yourself from being born, and therefore have prevented yourself from ever having done the time-travelling to begin with, thus the paradox. Many recent discussions about the physics of actual possibility of time travel have re-invoked this paradox, but interestingly, rather than facing it they have attempted to dodge it.  The most common explanation regarding how time travel could be possible in spite of the Grandfather paradox involves some magic physical constraint on what you can do and what you can't, when time travelling.  The explanation is often "well, you can do pretty much anything, except for example to kill your Grandfather."  In other words, you could try, but you would never succeed.  To me this raises a heck of a lot more questions than it answers.  [ Comment on this Entry ] [ Email this Entry ]

brainspasm... Wednesday 4/6/2005 5:46:02 PM (CST) - Michael Wells    there is no such thing as the "speed of light" maximum there is only our observance of the "speed of light" within our 3(4)-space geometry that is, there is no limit on the maximum speed of an object.  however, the velocity spectrum from 0 to infinity, when projected into our referential geometry, is observable as 0-c range OUTCOMES; light travels infinitely fast, thus explaining its characteristic wave/particle nature but within our geometry, it is slowed? We do know that in the farthest reaches of our observable universe, constants such as "big-G" change; perhaps this is due to a different geometry? What causes this? are we travelling at a velocity of n% infinity, and therefore viewed as a constant, light's speed is measurable relative to our own? Is geometry affected largely by gravitation, or perhaps the opposite?  If so, throughout 3-space, perhaps time and gravity, thus c and G, are different as the average concentrations of mass throughout our 3-space universe are different?   [ Comment on this Entry ] [ Email this Entry ]